"Really."
Luke nodded and said nothing more.
Silence settled over the scene for a while. Then Katarina suddenly said, "I had no bond with him since I was a child. There were a few times I nearly died because of him, and after one failed mission, he even sent assassins to kill me. He and I were already almost at the point where only one of us could live."
Katarina did not know why she had suddenly said all this. It was as if she wanted to prove she was not some cold-blooded person.
Luke looked into her eyes, and a faint smile appeared in his calm gaze. "I know. Congratulations on escaping your nightmare."
Katarina froze for a moment.
When this man smiled, his eyes seemed to hold a kind of magic. They were especially beautiful.
She looked away, instinctively not daring to stare any longer.
For some reason, her heart was a mess right now.
People really were strange creatures.
A moment ago, she had clearly been unable to sit still, thinking only of leaving as soon as possible. But now, she could not say a single word.
When the moment truly came, she felt a little reluctant to part.
Luke said then, "Since everything's settled, why don't you stay a few more days?"
"All right, then I'll stay a few more days!" Katarina answered without hesitation, reacting much faster than before.
After saying it, her heart suddenly felt steady.
She really was reluctant to leave this place. She really did want to stay a few more days.
Even if she did nothing during those days, even if she only lay there in that rocking chair in a daze like this man often did, that would be fine too.
In any case, everything she had come here to do had been resolved. A few more days would not matter.
Thinking that, Katarina inexplicably relaxed all over. She could not help glancing at Luke again. From here she could see the side of his face, slightly tilted up as he gazed at the bright moon. Moonlight spilled down over him, and for some reason, there was a peaceful sense of quiet years and gentle time.
Just looking at that face, the only words that came to mind were harmless to man and beast.
Katarina could not help remembering when she had first encountered this man beyond Demacia's borders.
It had been during a war between two armies, yet this man had spent his days lazing around with nothing to do. Back then, her heart had been full of contempt for him.
Even after he saw through her identity, even after she unknowingly drank the poison and lost her freedom, Katarina still believed he was nothing more than a Demacian noble with an outstanding face and no other virtues.
But after so much time had passed, now, only now, did Katarina belatedly realize something.
Making people think that way was one of this man's traits.
He clearly looked like some idle young nobleman, and in fact, the extravagant life he lived truly did match that impression.
Yet this was precisely the kind of man who had already thought through, and even prepared for, everything.
Whether it was the Gates of Mourning or what had happened in the capital today, one could almost say both had relied on this man's arrangements from the shadows.
All of that was enough to surprise Katarina.
A man who hid himself this deeply would inevitably become a troublesome enemy for Noxus in the future.
However, tonight, Katarina did not want to think about that.
She only wanted to treasure this quiet stretch of time.
Luke turned his head then and asked, "Want a drink?"
"All right."
Katarina nodded without refusing.
She was not someone who loved drinking. It was just that after spending too much time beside this man, she had somehow picked up the habit of drinking a little when there was nothing else to do.
Before long, Luke brought over the wine. The two of them sat on the rooftop, enjoying the moonlight and watching stars light up one after another in the night sky.
At the same time, they raised their cups and drank together. The hot liquor, carrying a faint trace of sweetness, slid down their throats and into their stomachs. After only a few cups, both of them felt pleasantly tipsy.
A few touches of red appeared on Katarina's beautiful face. Beneath the moonlight, her eyes shimmered with a lovely gleam, and that slight drunkenness added a hint of allure to her entire presence.
Even if neither of them said a word at a time like this, even if they only raised their cups and drank together, the atmosphere alone was enough to put them in an exceptionally good mood.
After several cups of wine, Luke remembered the important matter and said, "There's something I need to tell you next. I found it in Russell's secret chamber, and it's very important to both of us."
His expression was especially serious. The casual laziness he seemed to carry at every moment had been put away.
"What is it?"
Those words caught Katarina's interest, and she raised her eyes to look at Luke.
She had heard the name Russell before. Supposedly, he was the true mastermind behind today's incident.
What she was curious about was what kind of matter could make this man show such a solemn expression.
Luke drained the wine in his cup, then said, "The one who truly planned this conspiracy was not Russell. It was someone called LeBlanc, the Pale Sorceress."
"The Pale Sorceress..."
Hearing that title, Katarina froze slightly and sank into memory. She had the feeling that she had heard this name somewhere before.
Suddenly, a black rose flashed through her mind, and she could not help saying, "The Black Rose?"
Luke nodded. "That's right. The Black Rose. The Pale Lady is the true mastermind who secretly planned this rebellion."
"Wait." Katarina paused, then said, "The Black Rose appeared in Noxus more than ten years ago. Swain was the one who discovered that organization. They were secretly coveting Darkwill's position, but didn't the Pale Lady and her cultists already die after he exposed them?"
Katarina remembered this matter because it had once caused a huge stir in Noxus.
Some people coveted greater influence, so they formed a secret society and attempted to overthrow Darkwill, who had not long been in power. The symbol of that organization, and the only trace it left behind, was a black rose.
That was why people called the organization the Black Rose.
The one who discovered the Black Rose was Swain. The young Swain had uncovered their conspiracy back then and personally executed several of the ringleaders.
Those people were beheaded in public. Countless people saw several heads hit the ground, and that Pale Lady should have died so thoroughly in that execution that she could not possibly be any more dead.
Katarina had still been young at the time. The reason she remembered it was because she had also witnessed that execution.
Du Couteau had personally taken her to an excellent viewing spot and had not cared at all how much psychological trauma the sight of heads falling and blood spraying like fountains might cause a little girl.
However, her heart had also been exceptionally strong. Seeing that scene back then had barely made her feel anything.
That was not the point.
The question she had to think about now was why, more than ten years later, the Black Rose had appeared in Demacia.
Luke said then, "It was only a fake death. In reality, the Black Rose has been safe and sound all along, still moving in the shadows."
His serious expression did not look like he was making things up. He continued, "This is the Pale Lady's usual trick. To her, creating a false body is as simple as drinking water."
"The Black Rose's history may be even older than Noxus itself. All this time, the true controller of Noxus has always been that organization. She may have had a hand in writing every Noxian law. For centuries, her shadow has been behind every coup in Noxus."
"Even your Grand General, Darkwill, is only a puppet under her control. Her schemes spread all across Runeterra. Who knows how many places have suffered terribly because of the chaos she created? Even Demacia was not spared."
Luke's words rang out one after another.
Because the information she had received all at once was too much and too great, Katarina fell into a brief daze, her delicate face distracted.
She found it hard to imagine that Noxus had been controlled all along by such an organization, or even by such a person.
As a Noxian, what she felt at this moment was as if her faith had suddenly collapsed.
Everything countless Noxians fought desperately to obtain had always been built on someone else's conspiracy.
If that was the case, then just how much of the current Noxus was "fake"?
Katarina came back to herself, furrowed her brow slightly, and looked at Luke seriously as she asked, "How do you know all this?"
She did not believe that a Demacian noble's secret chamber would contain this much information about the Pale Sorceress. Judging from Luke's description, he clearly knew far more than a little about this mysterious Pale Sorceress.
"That's a long story."
Luke thought for a moment. He knew that if he wanted Katarina to believe him, he had to find a suitable reason.
If Lux had been here, she would have seen through him at a glance. Whenever this man showed that kind of expression, he was definitely about to spin some nonsense.
But Katarina, whose mind was currently in chaos, did not notice this.
Luke sighed softly and said, "You should know that my mother came from Noxus."
Katarina nodded. She had learned that later. This was no secret in Demacia either.
Luke's mother, Melli, had once been Noxian. Later, after leaving Noxus, she had fallen in love with Jarvan III.
Luke said, "In truth, her identity was that of a member of the Black Rose."
His words made even Katarina freeze.
"Everyone who joins the Black Rose has an almost fanatical worship of the organization. They follow the Pale Lady's orders and go to different places across Runeterra to lie low or carry out missions."
"But my mother was an exception. More than ten years ago, when LeBlanc was busy playing her fake-death game with Swain, she found an opportunity to break away from the Black Rose and traveled all the way to Demacia."
"She was not a core member, so she did not realize that the Pale Sorceress's claws had already spread everywhere. Even her clones were lurking in Demacia under disguised identities. Naturally, she was discovered by LeBlanc right away, and LeBlanc tried every possible way to silence her, a traitor to the organization."
"And at that time, a masked figure secretly intervened and helped her escape those claws. These are things she remembered and told me before she died. LeBlanc had used some method to erase her memories from her time in the Black Rose."
As Luke spoke alone, Katarina listened in silence the entire time.
The masked figure was someone she had also learned a little about this afternoon through that stone mural, and that figure was also far from simple.
At this moment, she had almost already concluded that most of what Luke said was true.
Because only this way could everything make sense.
Luke had known about the Black Rose from the beginning, so he had secretly made preparations to oppose LeBlanc's clone in Demacia.
And today, he had succeeded.
"Russell was the Pale Sorceress?"
Katarina raised her head and looked into Luke's eyes.
Luke nodded. "Yes."
Katarina lowered her head again and sank into thought, her fists unconsciously tightening.
The Black Rose. The Pale Sorceress.
They had managed to plant someone with such a high position even in Demacia, far to the west, a nation almost capable of standing against Noxus as an equal.
Thinking about it that way, just how great was this terrifying organization's influence in Noxus?
The instant she thought of that, Katarina already felt a chill run through her.
Something suddenly flashed through her mind.
She remembered what Du Couteau had once said. Her mother and younger sister seemed to be working for a mysterious organization, and Katarina had also uncovered the tiniest trace of a clue.
Could that organization be the Black Rose?
The more she thought about it, the more possible it seemed. Katarina's eyes flickered, and she could not help asking, "What else do you know?"
Luke said, "All I know is that the Pale Sorceress is almost everywhere. She is a witch who has lived for centuries, with countless aliases and more fabricated stories than anyone can count."
In truth, what he knew was only what he had seen from another perspective.
How could the cautious LeBlanc be careless enough to leak so many secrets?
However, that was not the main point.
After all, everything Luke had said was true. And the reason he had told Katarina, naturally, was because he did not want this matter to end like this.
LeBlanc had caused such a huge incident in Demacia. She came when she wanted, left when she wanted, and had no worries afterward at all.
Of course Luke could not just let it go.
No matter how deeply she hid, he would still find her some trouble and make sure she did not get too comfortable.
And Katarina was the most suitable blade for the task.
Katarina still had not recovered from her shock. She had not expected that the enemy she was about to face would be such a terrifying one.
But very quickly, a resolute look appeared in her eyes.
No wonder the Noxus of today had a strange feeling everywhere. Darkwill, who wanted to live forever, had gone mad searching for an elixir of immortality. Clearly, the Pale Sorceress's shadow was behind this too.
In other words, Darkwill was already a puppet.
And within Noxus's entire center of power, among the nobles as well, who knew how many such puppets there were?
Such an organization influenced Noxus from top to bottom, turning a mighty empire filthy, chaotic, and foul.
Even her mother and younger sister were members of the Black Rose.
Even if only for their sake, Katarina had to stand up and oppose it.
Luke said, "That's all I know."
Katarina raised her eyes and said, "No matter what, thank you for telling me all this."
Luke's words had, in a sense, helped her resolve the doubts she had carried all this time.
Before this, she had always felt an indescribable strangeness.
Now, that feeling had vanished. What appeared before Katarina's eyes was only one road.
She was already prepared to take that step.
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